Manitoba Medical Marijuana Patients Protest Proposed Changes

By
CTV Winnipeg
on February 22, 2013

The offices of two Manitoba Members of Parliament were targeted by protestors on Thursday, Feb. 21. They are upset about proposed changes to the way Canadians access medical marijuana. They say it could make it more expensive to obtain the drug legally and could force them to turn to the black market for their medicine.

The existing laws allow people with licenses to grow their own medical marijuana. Under the new legislation that will no longer be allowed. Instead, people with a prescription for marijuana would have to purchase it from a government licensed distributor

Steven Stairs showed up to protest the changes.

“They let us spend thousands of dollars setting up systems where we can produce our own medicine and now they’re saying we can’t do it anymore,” he said.

Greg, who asked to be identified by first name only, is in constant pain due to a spinal cord injury. He says he spent more than $10,000 on his system for cultivating medical marijuana. He says he made the investment because he believes marijuana is better for his health than the pharmaceutical alternatives.

“Medical marijuana has done a lot more for me pain wise than all the other 15 prescription narcotics I’m on right now,” he said.